Loading apparatus of heavy guns.



A. T. DAWSON &I. HORNE.

LOADING APPARATUS 0F HEAVY GUNS.

APPLICATION FILED senza. |913.

l 1,157,682. Patented 0er. 26, 1915-.

3 SHEETS-SHEET I.

A. T. DAWSON GLI. HORNE. LoAmN APPARATUS oF HEAVY GUNS.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT.29`19|3.

Patented Oct. 26, 1915.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2 APPLICATION FILED SEP'T. 29. 1913.l

. f W1. 5 f MA ,m70 ,a @wf AJH. www dm ,/ff v/f v n a m o f 8 6, w 7 ifARTHUR TREVOR DAWSON, 0F WESTMIN STER, LONDON, .AND JAMES HOB/NE. OF.

BARROW-IN-FURNESS, ENGLAND, ASSIGNORS TO VICKERS LIMITED, OF WEST-MINSTER, ENGLAND.

LOADING APPARATUS OF HEAVY GUNS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 26. 1915.

@riginal application filed September 30, 1911, Serial No. 652.192.Divided and this application led September kind in which the operatingmotor is controlled by a valve carried by a part oi the mounting thatdoes not move with the gun in. elevation.

According to the present invention the rainrner motor on the slidetraine or loading arm is controlled by a valve also carried by the slidetraine or loading arm. the move ments of the said valve being under theini'iuence of a hand actuated valve on the grun platform. Bi' thesenvaus the motor on the slide frame or loading,r arm can he controlledindependently ot' the hand actuated valve hy the automatic meanshereinafter described.

.lin order' that the said invention may he cleaiuy understood andreadily carriedinto effect we will describe the same more fully withreference to the accompanying drawings. in which- Figurc l is adiagrammatic side elevation showing our improvements: Fig. 2 is aseetional side elevation ot' the hand actuated valve andV its associatedparts on the f run platt'orni and of a cut-oil valve carried h v 'thegun slide: and Fig'. il is a sectional side elevation ot a differentialvalve and its associated parts carried hy the loading arm.

A; is the gun. A the slide traine. A: the loading arm, A3 the raimnerearried thereby. A4 the rannner eontrol hand lever and 12 the YalveConnected thereto.

The'iainmer A3, which is shown by wa v ot' example as of the flexible orchain type.

under the infiuenoe ot' a hydraulic motor A0 controlled by adifferential valve a. carried by the loading arni. The differential ramcylinder of the said valve is connected by a pipe a with the handcontrol valve al of the hand lever A* of the rammer controlvand reversesthe rammer motor.

Serial No. 792,245.

ling' mechanism. the cut otf valve ai* carried by the gun slide beingadapted to co-'iperate with the raminer A and beingT connected with thereversing Cylinder (1.* on the gun platform by a pipe ai. In order toprevent the ran'inier from leaving the withdrawn position until the gunloading cage C is in alinelnent with the bore of the gun. and for wusu rle" raounfr ro auronritioallv Der; torni its first rannning stroke. aspring bolt is adapted to cooperate with the stein of the control valve(z-to lock it in the position to retain the ramn'ler in the withdrawnposition. A stop e on the gun loading cage C cooperates with the saidspring bolt a* and withdraws it from engaggfeiiient with the stem oi thecontrol valve o as the cage reaches its loading position. whereupon. thehand lever A4 having been previously placed to the "ram" position. thevalve a. will move into the position to cause the rammer to ram theprojectile into the gun. The usual locking holt is provided on theloading arm for retaining the loading cage C in position until theraimner has been fully withdrawn,

when the hand lever A* iS in the "withdraw'" position shown in Figi. 1and in full lilies in Figi'.- 2. the valve a2 supplies pressure Huid tothe differential ram ovlinder oi' the valve u and the latter istherefore held in the position shown in Fig. 3 owing to the tact thatthe pressure onthe end ot' the ram ot this valve preponderates over theoonstant pressure ot th'e fiuid supplied to the valve casing hy the pipe(in. Vhen the hand -lever .-V is moved to the "ram" posltion to theditl'erential rain cylinder 'ot the valve.

ri and this valve is therehy moved to the leftv The hand lever A4 andthe valve n2 are automatically moved from the ram" to the \vithdra\\"position at the end of the rannning stroke by the diiferential valve a3which under the influence of the constant pressure fluid supplied by avpipe er tends to move toward the right. This movement of the valve a?is prevented by a bell crank lever a, connected to the valve stem andbearing against the rammer until the last link of the rammer moves clearof thebell crank lever, whereupon the valve al moves toward the rightand places the pipe and the right hand face of the ram in the cylinderfr* to exhaust; pressure fluid supplied by a pipe 5X to the left hand`face of the piston in the vcylinder a4 then moves this ram to the rightand in so doing displaces the valve a2 and the hand lever A4 to itswithdraw position, this movement being eli'ected through the llever a0".When the rammer in consequence performs its Withdrawing stroke, the lastlink thereof displaces the bell crank lever a to move the valve a3 intothe position shown in Fig. 2 in which it again admits pressure fluid tothe right hand end ol. the cylinder a ,1' the ram in this cylinder thenmoves toward the left until it reaches the position shown by F ig. 2,this movement occurring owingto the fact that the right hand rod of theram is of smaller diameter than the left hand rod. The ram. is normallyheld in the position shown by a spring catch al* which is displaced toits disengaging' position when the hand lever A4 is moved to its ramposition. What We claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of theUnited States 'isz- 1. In gun loading apparatus the combination With theslide frame, the rammel' actuating motor carried thereby, and the motorcontrol hand lever mounted on a part of the mounting that does not movein elevation, of a control'valve carried by the slide frame, andpressure fluid means for actuating said valve from the aforesaid handlever.

2. In gun loading apparatus, the combination with the slide frame, therammer vactuating motor carried thereby and the motor control hand levermounted on a part of the mounting that does not move in elevation, of acontrol valve carried by the slide frame, and hydraulic means for'actuating said valve from the aforesaid hand lever.

3. ln gun loading apparatus, the combination with the slide frame, therammer actuating motor carried thereby, and the motor control hand levermounted on a part of the mounting that does not move in elevation, of acontrol valve carried by the slide frame, a valve operated by said handlever, and means for connecting said valve to the control hand valve onthe slide frame.

4. In gun loading apparatus, the combination with the slidev frame,A therammer actuating motor carried thereby, and the motor controll handlever mounted on a part of the mounting that does not move in-elevation, of a control valve carried by the` slide frame, a valveoperated by'said hand lever, and hydraulic means for connecting saidvalve tothe control valve on the slide frame.

5. In gun loadingapparatus, the combination with the, sli'de frame, therammeractuating motor carried thereby, and the motor control hand levermounted on a part of the mounting that does not move in ele- Vation, ofa differential control valve carried by the slide frame, la pipesupplying constant pressure fluid to said differential valve, a valveoperated by said hand lever and a pipe connecting said valve with thedifferential valve on the slide frame.

6. ln gun loading apparatus, the combination with the gun platform, theslide frame, the rammer actuating motor carried thereby,iand the motorcontrol hand lever mounted on the gun platform, of a ditl'erentialControl valve carried by the slide frame, a pipe supplying constantpressure flu-id to said valve, a valve mounted on the gun platform andoperatedby the said control hand lever,-and a pipe connecting said valvewith the dierential valve on the slide :trame lln testimony whereof weaffix our signatures in presence of two witnesses.

ARTHUR TREVR DAVJSGN. JAMES HORNE.

lVitnesses to the signature of Arthur Trevor Dawson:

HENRY limo C. A. SEARLE. Witnesses to the signature o1 James Horne:

W. H. .i/'riiiivsoiv, l. W. MURRAY.

